Earlier this month, MinnPost held the third annual Book Club Blast, featuring keynote author Kate DiCamillo and breakout sessions with local authors and book club experts.
The breakout session “Share Your Favorite Book Club Reads” — led by Highland Park librarian and book-club facilitator Barb Pierce and me — generated dozens of recommendations from attendees.
We’ve compiled the favorite titles shared at the Book Club Blast, beginning with those of the two workshop leaders:
Susan Albright’s picks:
“Gryphon” by Charles Baxter
“The Marriage Plot” by Jeffrey Eugenides
“State of Wonder” by Ann Patchett
Barb Pierce’s picks:
“Before I Go to Sleep” by S.J. Watson
“Every Man Dies Alone” by Hans Fallada
“Room” by Emma Donoghue
Attendees’ recommendations (in alphabetical order):
“Beneath the Marble Sky” by John Shors
“Birds in Fall” by Brad Kessler
“Bitter Grounds” by Sandra Benitez
“Dreamers of the Day” by Mary Doria Russell
“Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson
“In the Garden of Beasts” by Erik Larson
“Left Neglected” by Lisa Genova
“Loving Frank” by Nancy Horan
“Moloka’i” by Alan Brennert
“My Name Is Mary Sutter” by Robin Oliveira
“My Reading Life” by Pat Conroy
“One Thousand White Women” by Jim Fergus
“Sarah’s Key” by Tatiana de Rosnay
“The Silence of the Loons: Thirteen Tales of Mystery by Minnesota’s Premier Crime Writers”
“Singing Solo: In Search of a Voice for Mom” by JacLynn Herron
“Still Alice” by Lisa Genova
“The Cheese Monkeys” by Chip Kidd
“The Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson
“The Faith Club” by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver and Priscilla Warner
“The Golden Hour” by Margaret Wurtele
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot
“The Madonnas of Leningrad” by Debra Dean
“The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell
“Through These Veins” by Anne Marie Ruff
“Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype” by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Below are additional recommendations from our Book Club Blast keynote author and interviewer:
Sarah T. Williams
“On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” by Stephen King
Kate DiCamillo
“Best American Nonrequired Reading,” edited by Dave Eggers
“The Best American Essays,” edited by Edwidge Danticat
“New Stories from the South,” edited by Amy Hempel
“Selected Stories” by Alice Munro
